PRESS RELEASE: COMMUNITY GROUP REQUESTS INVESTIGATION BY SHERIFF AND DISTRICT ATTORNEY INTO ELECTION FRAUD

COMMUNITY GROUP REQUESTS INVESTIGATION BY SHERIFF AND DISTRICT ATTORNEY INTO ELECTION FRAUD

April 25, 2014, Placerville, CA

Today the grassroots group Local Voter Control in El Dorado County filed complaints with the El Dorado County Sheriff John D’Agostini and El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson to demand that they take action to stop fraud by the paid signature gatherers brought into the County by Sacramento-based building industry political action group Region Builders. Local Voter Control Committee members Lori Parlin and Sue Taylor and their attorney, Joel Ellinwood, presented the Sheriff and District Attorney with signed declarations from witnesses of fraudulent misrepresentations currently being made by the paid petition circulators.

There have been numerous reports of the paid signature gatherers making blatantly false statements about the Region Builders white and pink petition, including that it would pay for adding another lane to Highway 50, or stop locally unpopular development proposals like San Stino in Shingle Springs.

According to California Election Code Section 18600, "Every person is guilty of a misdemeanor who: (a) ....intentionally misrepresents or intentionally makes any false statement concerning the contents, purport, or effect of any state or local initiative to any person who signs, or who desires to sign, or who is requested to sign, or who makes inquiries with reference to it, or to whom it is presented for his or her signature.”

The Region Builders signature gatherers have continually misrepresented who they are and what their petition is about. Region Builders’ spokesperson Josh Wood recently boasted to Sue Taylor that he would pay ten dollars per signature to get his petition on the ballot in an attempt to override county citizen-sponsored initiatives by Rural Communities United, Shingle Springs Community Alliance, and Save Our County, that are circulating petitions by local volunteer signature gatherers.

“It is time for our elected officials to step in and stop this invasion of fraudulent signature gatherers upon our citizenry, in the attempt to abuse the initiative process in favor of outside special interests,” Parlin said. Parlin, who is also a candidate for the District 4 Board of Supervisors seat, is the president of the Shingle Springs Community Alliance and is one of the proponents of the initiative to amend the Community Region Lines that are prompting proposals for the urbanization of the Green Valley Road corridor, Shingle Springs and the Camino - Pollock Pines communities.

If you have witnessed these signature gatherers commit fraud by lying about the intent of their initiative, please report it to the Sheriff's Office at 530-621-5655 and the District Attorney's Office at 530-621-6472.